


Hey, Dollface

by thatblondefulloflight



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types, Thor (Movies)
Genre: Avengers are a family, Dysfunctional Family, F/M, Someone gets hurt, bank robbery trope, but don't want to say it, so of course someone needed to get hurt for them to realize, two people like like each other
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-12-25
Updated: 2015-03-24
Packaged: 2018-03-03 10:18:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,115
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2847470
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thatblondefulloflight/pseuds/thatblondefulloflight
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Winter Solider has finally joined the Avengers. Darcy Lewis has helped him move into the 21st century. He likes her. She likes him. But neither can say what they feel. He's a brainwashed assassin. She's a scientist wrangler. What does it take for them to notice how the other feels? Apparently it takes a bank robbery, flying bullets, and a life-or-death situation. All rights go to Marvel.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Let's get rid of the hobo look

**Author's Note:**

> Second fic in the MCU genre. Absolutely love the Darcy/Bucky pairing, almost as much as Clintasha. There will be blood. There will be language. Not beta'd.

Darcy Lewis, newly appointed Lab Manager to Stark Industries, was so not in the mood for this.

And by “this” she meant the six armed robbers that had burst through the National Bank doors twenty minutes ago. All she was doing was dropping off deposits for several of the departments of Stark Industries as a favor to Pepper because, let’s be honest, you didn’t _not_ do a favor when _the_ Pepper Potts asked you to.

 

But this was beyond the point because, hello, there were now big guns waltzing around the bank lobby like they owned the place and they had already confiscated everyone’s belongings, including her beloved Taser.

 

Lucky for Darcy, and not so lucky for them, she was friends with _the Avengers_ and dammit that had to count for something.

 

 

 

Bucky Barnes had been at the Avengers Tower for nine months and things were finally starting to look up for the ex-brainwashed, former-Hydra, newly reformed Winter Soldier. The only thing he was waiting on was for the team to decide he was ready to go on missions.

 

He’d gone with the team on a few missions that popped up locally, but both he and the team had agreed that he wasn’t yet ready to go out on the longer missions. Looking out the floor-to-ceiling windows of the 56th floor of Avengers Tower, Bucky let loose a sigh of contentment. He finally felt like he belonged somewhere, where he did not fear the ice or cold, or being punished for his mistakes.

 

He finally had a home.

 

Of course, it was no daisy walk to get here. It took months before he was even at the point where he could seek out Steve, who welcomed him with open arms. There had been countless nights where he awoke from the nightmares, day after day breaking triggers, and weeks were spent learning about choices.

 

The concept was so easy, but the brainwashing had done so much to his mind, that he had to fight the conditioning and learn how to make decisions. And not just life-changing, major decisions, but simple ones like:

 

 _What do you want for breakfast_?

 

_Which movie looks good?_

_You wanna shower now, or eat first, jerk?_

Choices were _hard._ Well, not hard, maybe, but overwhelming. There were too many in a day that had to be made, and for someone not used to having _any_ it was difficult.

 

_But she made it better._

While some had been standoffish when Bucky first arrived, there was one person, excluding Steve and ~~Natalia~~ Natasha, that had literally welcomed him with open arms.

 

 

Darcy Lewis was the universe’s gift to Bucky Barnes, she looked like the past, all curves and red lips, but brought him into the future with her iPod and music and dancing and movies and Starbucks. Steve worried the future would overwhelm Bucky, but Darcy was there to edit the less important things out _There will be plenty of time for McDonald’s, later_ and making sure all the most important things were experienced _Everyone has to experience Six Flags at least once in their life._

 

Bucky had sat through many movie and television show marathons with Darcy, who always ended up falling asleep and resting her head on his arm.

 

_He didn’t mind._

The site of Darcy hanging around him was what helped usher the others into accepting him. Maybe it was because it was reassuring to see him interacting with a non-spysassin.

 

He’d never forget meeting her for the first time a mere nine months ago. He’d arrived at Avengers Tower and Steve had been the first down the elevator to greet him and after reassuring Steve that he had control (mostly) he had been brought up to “meet the team.”

 

With the team had been Dr. Foster and her assistant, Darcy. The first words out of Darcy’s mouth had been “Let’s get rid of the hobo look.”

 

Everyone had watched with horror as she stepped forward and grabbed his metal hand and marched him into the bathroom. She’d washed his hair and cut and styled it into a slightly longer version of what he’d had pre-WWII. When she was done she’d pinched his cheek and told him to thank her later.

 

It was the beginning to a beautiful friendship.

 

Bucky’s musings quickly ended as an accented voice entered the room.

 

_“Sergeant Barnes, there is a situation that I believe requires your attention.”_

“What’s up, JARVIS?”

 

_“The National Bank on 4 th and Broadway is being robbed, and fifteen hostages are being held inside.”_

His brows furrowed, because even though he was the only one in the Tower (the rest were out on business errands or missions) this didn’t seem like a situation that required any of their skill sets.

 

“Uh, JARVIS? No offense, but isn’t that for the police?”

 

_“Yes, sir, but I thought you would want to be alerted for Ms. Lewis was asked by Ms. Potts to make a deposit to the bank. She left forty minutes ago and has not yet returned.”_

Bucky was geared up and out of the Tower in less than five minutes.

 

 

Darcy was handling this hostage situation thing just fine.

 

And by “just fine” she meant she was getting pissed and aggravated. It was hot being crammed into a small group with the rest of the hostages and the others were too scared to be useful. The women were crying and the men were keeping their eyes on the ground and hunching their shoulders to appear smaller.

 

Darcy realized maybe she was the weird one but, hey, she had survived New Mexico and London and those experiences had changed her. As had living with the Avengers for a year.

 

Clint liked to shoot Nerf darts at her from the vents. Asshole.

 

Natasha stalked around like a cat and occasionally invited Darcy to train with her. Ouch.

 

Bruce and Tony lived in the labs and had been added to her roster of scientists to maintain. But Bruce was a sweetie and Tony gave her a Stark AmEx card so all was well.

 

Steve took a month to stop calling her “ma’am.” And now he walked around the Tower with tight shirts (or no shirt) and _mm-hmm_ she could get used to that.

 

And Bucky (he’d told her to call him that two days after meeting her and only Steve held the same power) was a flirty best friend who made her feel all warm and tingly inside when he smiled at her and called her “doll” or “dollface” or-

 

She couldn’t think about that right now, she needed to focus and stay alert.

 

She listened to what the robbers were talking about, and heard murmured words of wanting helicopters and safe houses. The phone at the front desk rang and the smallest of the men, but the one who seemed in charge pulled down the bottom portion of his mask to answer the phone.

 

“We have a list of demands-“ The man cut off as the person on the other end must have begun speaking.

 

“Release hostages? No, if we don’t get-“The man’s mouth snapped shut as the other end began speaking again.

 

Darcy felt her heart begin to beat faster and a lead weight-like feeling settling in her stomach. Not that she was a hostage negotiator or anything (but she had watched _a lot_ of movies) but she was pretty sure pissing off the armed robbers was _not_ what you were supposed to do.

 

“We won’t get what we want?” The man’s voice became a shout, and Darcy saw the other gunmen gripping their guns tighter and shifting nervously. “How’s about a dead hostage? How would you like that?”

 

And that was when all hell broke loose.

 

The man turned and pointed his gun at the group of hostages, aiming it at the person in the front, which of course was Darcy and oh Thor, she was going to die-

 

A cracking sound erupted into the room, but not the loud boom of a gun, more like the cracking of glass right before it shatters.

 

Darcy expected the white hot pain of being shot, she did not expect the wet feeling of blood being splattered across her face. Opening her eyes she watched the leader fall, a hole blown open in his head, has face gone.

 

The other men turned their guns to the front of the bank, where the shot had come from, and that’s when time seemed to slow down for Darcy.

 

 

Bucky quickly blew through the police barricades and continued shooting into the bank, knowing his shot was leagues better than the idiots who had endangered his-

 

Darcy, those idiots had endangered Darcy and that was unacceptable.

 

He leapt up the stairs and took out the last two guards, reaching up to click his communicator off, which JARVIS had been using to let him know what was going on inside via the security cameras the AI had hacked.

 

His eyes scanned the room until they landed on Darcy and did not leave her until he was satisfied she was unharmed.

 

Darcy felt her fear start to dissipate at the sight of Bucky, dressed in his black Winter Soldier gear, and moving like someone had punched his puppy (or stolen his iPod).

 

She let out a breath once he had taken down the last guard, and she saw his eyes land on her for a few moments. She held her breath and felt a warmth erupt in her chest at the intensity of his gaze, but he turned away before she could dissect the emotions that had been raging in his eyes.

 

Bucky turned his back to the hostages, his attention drawn by the SWAT team now rushing towards the bank steps and yelling at him to drop his weapon (like he was the threatening one) and that’s when Darcy noticed that the farthest gunmen wasn’t dead. His chest was bloodied, but he was starting to rise up, his hand gripping his gun and-

 

Bucky heard a gasp, which his mind immediately registered as Darcy’s and he turned towards where he’d seen her.

 

But as he turned, Darcy collided into him, but she was a foot shorter and all she did was bounce off him and started to fall back. His arms wrapped around her on instinct which is when he heard a shot and saw her jerk in his arms.

 

The one thing Bucky thanked Hydra for was the muscle memory and reaction time they had drilled into him that allowed him to draw, fire, and re-holster his weapon in the time it took him to lower Darcy to the ground.

 

A red spot was blooming on her white shirt which was a stark contrast to the cherry red of her lips. Bucky felt nausea welling up in his stomach because _this was not supposed to happen._

 

“Идиот, why would you do that?”  

 

 “Hey, Buckster, how-“ but Darcy coughed and blood spattered across him before she could finish. 

 His hands began to shake because _Darcy was dying and why, why, why?_

 

“Medic! I need a medic!” 

 

 His hand, which was now covered in blood, flew to his ear and hit the communicator back on. “JARVIS, I need-medic, help, she’s dyin’” 

 

  _“The hospital has been alerted, sir.”_

 

It was then that men in white uniforms started to pull Darcy away from him and he had to fight every instinct he had to let her go. Then men in black tactical gear were hauling him up and without consciously doing it he had them disabled and was stalking out the door to get in the back of the ambulance.  Four hours later had him still sitting in the hallway outside of the operating room (because fuck sitting in a waiting room down the hall with crying babies and whining children- _Darcy was dying_ ) and begging any deity that would listen to _save her._  

 

 He felt a vibrating in his pocket and pulled out his phone. Stark’s name lit up the screen and without really knowing why he accepted the call.  “Stark.” His voice was emotionless and controlled and held a slight Russian hint to it (Darcy always made fun of his mad Russian voice and his flirty Brooklyn voice). 

 

  _“Why are you on CNN?”_   

 

“There was-Darcy”  

 

 _“Wait, Lewis was there? Oh shit, please tell me she wasn’t the ‘unidentified female.’”_  

 

 “She was at the bank. She, ебать, she moved in front of a bullet.” 

 

_“What’s her status?”_

 

“They won’t tell me, but…”Bucky had to take a calming breath, “Foster is her emergency contact and they don’t buy that she’s in Asgard.”  

 

_“They won’t-fuck-okay, let me pull some strings. Pep and I are on a plane, two hours out.”_

 

When Bucky didn’t reply after a moment Stark sighed and   _“She’ll be alright, okay? Lewis has been through Thor and London and she lives with us, right? Don’t worry, Barnes.”_

 

“Just get here, Stark.” With that Bucky ended the call and thanked his lucky stars that Stark was a good enough man to have not held a grudge for the horrendous betrayal he’d dealt the Stark family while under Hydra’s control.  In fact, none of his teammates had held anything against him, even when he argued they should. One night particularly stood out in his mind.   

 

   _“Look, Bucky, you weren’t you, nobody holds you accountable-“_

 

_“Maybe you should.” The room fell silent at his words. “It was me, Steve, I did things.”_

 

_“But that wasn’t really you-“_

 

_“I’m not talkin’ about Hydra, Steve. I’m talking about what I did for the good old red, white, an’ blue.”_

 

Bucky sighed and leaned his head against the wall of the hospital, waiting and waiting for news about his… …waiting for news about Darcy. 


	2. Blue Eyes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well lookie here, what is this? A new chapter? Blame it on life. Two jobs and a full college load does not give me much time to write. See the end for more notes!

CHAPTER 2

Unlike in the movies one does not wake from a coma quickly. Eyes do not suddenly flutter open, and people are not always around to welcome the victim back into the world. In reality, some people wake slowly from a coma as their brains slowly reorganize their response systems and arousal signals to declare wakefulness.

Darcy Lewis was one of these people. Her brain waves slowly climbed back into activity, and it took a full forty-eight hours for Darcy’s eyes to fully open and for her to be coherent enough for conversation.

Within that time Bucky Barnes had used every string Stark could pull to keep a vigil at her bedside. All of the team had come by at some point, mostly concerned over the health of their friend, but also concerned over the mental state of a former Hydra assassin. 

 

Steve had been in the hospital room for forty-five minutes, not staring at the girl in the bed, but instead focusing his concerned looks at his best friend. Bucky’s eyes hadn’t left Darcy’s form and there was an almost manic gloss to his eyes, like his best friend was no longer fully present. Steve had to take a calming breath and clench his hands into fists to beat down the overwhelming sense of panic that threatened to overtake him at the thought of losing his best friend again.

 

The Black Widow watched her former teacher, but he wasn’t really her former teacher, not anymore. This was some hybrid version of a broken man and a Russian weapon. This new presence was now dampened by the grief and guilt that was plaguing him. She knew Steve was worried, he had problems recognizing when aspects of the Soldier came out to play, but she wasn’t. Bucky Barnes was too strong of a presence now, and without the drugs and constant mind wipes, the personality of the Soldier was fading, leaving Bucky with terrible memories and instinctual fighting moves. 

 

Tony Stark did what he did best. He ignored emotions and made jokes. He also threw his name at anyone who would listen and had the best trauma doctors flown in and had paid for the entire wing to be privatized until Darcy was released. This also allowed for a certain former brainwashed assassin to be on site without adhering to pesky things like visiting hours. Tony Stark also locked himself in his lab and drank and made his own version of an iPod that could hold fifty-thousand songs, two hundred videos, and a million photos. And if the colors were red and gold, well Lewis wouldn’t be picky.

 

Clint, used to watching from afar, did his best to protect the team. He had Jarvis monitoring the reporters, who were all curious as to why this mysterious girl had been injured and why the Avengers were seen entering and exiting the hospital at all hours. He kept an eye on Barnes, watching for any hint he wasn’t in control of himself. He watched Steve, to make sure he was handling this unfamiliar situation without becoming too blind to his best friend. He watched Tony to make sure he didn’t kill himself with alcohol poisoning. He watched Bruce to make sure the Hulk didn’t make unexpected appearances. He watched the skies to make sure Thor kept his emotions in check (the sky was a dark and scary black, but it wasn’t storming). And he watched Nat. Nat was always watching and assessing Barnes, but Clint also knew she was taking this hard. She had grown fond of Darcy (which one of them hadn’t?) and he knew she would need someone to see through her walls when she went home to hide. And as always he would be there for her. 

Because he was her partner both on and off the job.

 

James Barnes no longer believed in God. It was hard to believe in any higher power existing that had allowed for the creation of Hydra. It would be so easy and better to believe that some things were out of the hands of man. James wished he could go back and believe. But he couldn’t. 

Not after what happened to him.

Not after what happened to Darcy.

James had not had much sleep while he sat beside Darcy, but his metal hand with its hyperaware sensors recognized her change in pulse just before her eyes fully opened. He almost cried at the sight of her blue eyes, because it meant she was here, she was alive, she had returned to him.

“Darcy?” He smiled as those blue eyes focused on him. “Doll, it’s going to be alright. You’re in the hospital, but you’re goin’ to be fine.”

“Bucky?” Her voice was low and scratchy from lack of use, and it came out slow and broken, but he didn’t care. His girl was back. He jumped up and grabbed a plastic cup and filled it with water from a nearby pitcher.

“Hey, dollface. It’s been awhile.” He helped her sip some water to help her speech.

“How long?” She asked him.

In an effort to make her not worry, he put on his best Brooklyn smile and replied, “Too long.”

 

When she was finally cleared to go home, Darcy thought she would finally be left alone to process, well, everything.

The fact that she had almost died.  
The fact that Tony Stark had practically bought out an entire hospital wing for her.

The fact that the Avengers had spent time watching over her.

The fact that Bucky had been by her side the whole time (thanks Tony for pointing that out).

These life-changing events needed to be processed by oneself without the prying eyes of others.

But did fate work in Darcy’s favor?

Did it ever?

Everyone else had discreetly departed when they had arrived back at Avengers Tower, but Bucky hadn’t left Darcy’s side and with the way his hand was gently resting against her lower back, she was sure he wasn’t planning to anytime soon.

When the elevator doors closed, signifying that the two brunettes were alone, Darcy wondered when Bucky would finally relieve himself from her. He was one of her best friends, and they had become close as he worked to assimilate himself into the tower, but he was unaware (hopefully, Thor be willing) that Darcy had an enormous crush on him. 

Growing up, Bucky Barnes was a famous national icon, second only to his best friend Steve Rogers. All the school children picked their favorite. Other fought over Steve or the other Howling Commandos, but Darcy always liked the charming, sniper Bucky best. Her parents had even gotten her a Bucky bear for Christmas one year and it was her prized possession. 

Now it would seem like a dream come true that she had been able to befriend a celebrity she had crushed on for years, but when she met him, he wasn’t the Bucky everyone remembered and revered. This was a broken man. He’d needed a friend who wouldn’t judge or impose past memories on him. That was what she had set out to do.

“I think I’m going to lie down for a while. All the excitement of today wore me out,” Darcy said, hoping it would clue Barnes in that he could leave. She didn’t expect him to babysit her. 

“That’s fine, doll. I’ll hang out on the couch and catch up on some Housewives.” Bucky shot her that charming smile that must have melted the panties off of every woman in the ‘40s.

“Oh come on, Buck, go out and find a lady friend.” Darcy knew at this point he could find someone out there. 

“No way, doll. I’m not being mauled by some of the women out there.” Bucky didn’t like it when he went to crowded areas that someone recognized him in. Suddenly he’d be swarmed by women throwing themselves at him like he was one of those Australian singers with the colorful hair and Twitter accounts.

“Women like you, Bucky, because you are relatable to women.” Bucky’s brows reached his hairline.

“I’m a killer with a metal arm, how in the hell does that make me relatable to dames?”

Darcy eased onto the couch in the living room and Bucky sat down next to her, his arm stretching out behind her on the back of the couch. She relaxed into his side and propped her feet up on the coffee table. After she took a deep breath, like she was preparing herself, Darcy began speaking.

“You’re relatable because of what you went through. You were held captive and had everything you were wiped out of your mind. You lost who you were and were controlled by someone else for years. Then you broke free and got to take back control of your life. Now you work hard to prove to yourself and everyone else that you are alright and put together. Women, especially if they’ve been through a relationship with intimate partner violence, recognize the kind of struggles you’ve been through. Some relate to you because they lost themselves to violence and escaped and got back their lives. Some are still lost and look to you for inspiration. Women have been fighting for years to be on equal footing with men, and so they can relate to someone who feels like they’ve lost part of themselves to someone else. It’s not a bad thing, Bucky. Seriously with all that charm you’ve got going on, I’m surprised someone hasn’t snatched you up yet.”

Bucky looked down at Darcy, who was staring ahead at the turned off television. He’d been falling for this dame from the start. He just didn’t know how to tell her. He felt a flicker of his old self, the one Steve always told him was good with the dames, pushing at his brain. “Maybe the dame I want to snatch me up hasn’t asked yet.”

Darcy felt a twinge of disappoint run through her and forced herself not to look at him. She should have known that someone had caught Bucky’s eye. She wondered who it was, probably some flawless queen like Natasha. 

“What ‘bout you, Darce? Any fellas caught your eye?” His quiet, hopeful words disrupted her thought train.

“I dunno, Buck. Haven’t thought about it since Jane set me up with that terrible blind date.”

“Yeah, how’d that go?”

“Well he took me to a seafood place-“

“Which you’re allergic to.”

“Yes, and when I informed him of that he said and I quote ‘Well that sucks, but at least they have bread.’”

“What was that guy’s name again?”

“Don’t even think about it Bucky. I handled it.”

“Yeah, you handled it your way, but I wanna handle it my way. Nobody disrespects my best girl like that.”

Both of them froze at Bucky’s words.

Still staring ahead, Darcy asked, “Is that what I am?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading!!! I will never abandon this ship but sometimes it just takes me a while to get stuff out. But I am proud of this ship that is gaining popularity and the two characters haven't even met in canon yet! (At least in movie verse, I don't read the comics so I don't know about them).
> 
> Let me know what you thought!
> 
> Follow me on Tumblr under: that-blonde-full-of-light

**Author's Note:**

> Please let me know what you think! Hopefully next part will be up soon!


End file.
